Knitting FOs

Baby Beret
I knitted this for a friend's baby. This is such a quick knit and easy pattern. I botched it up though :P
This is Kai's first snow. She wasn't happy about modelling the pic because she's cold :)



Pattern: Basque hat
Modi: ran out of the multicolored yarn during the decreases, so at the top only use the red one, and did rapid decrease (k2tog all around, k 1 round) until 8 sts remained. Added pompom.
Ravelled here

Knitted this long time ago, but only remembered to take pic of it now :P This is for the baby's mom. Hopefully she likes it.

Pattern: Wisp
Modi: Overdyed the FO using Jacquard Acid Dye in sky blue.
More details on my rav project page

Kai's bday celebration 2

Finally we all feel somewhat better, and celebrated Kai's birthday last Saturday.

Decorated the window with balloons that my mom sent. Thank goodness for pumps! The purple hot dog balloon is surprisingly really long (about 1 m or 3 feet).

Family pictures. My mom joined in through Skype.

The birthday girl with her new toy.

Cutting the cake.

I baked this carrot cake with this frosting. I added 1/2 c of shredded coconut to the cake, and substitute 1/2 c of butter from the frosting recipe with cream cheese. The cake was really good and moist. The raisins make this cake more interesting than regular old carrot cake. The monkey king that doesn't like carrot cake loves it!

Even the birthday girl likes it too, I think. Whaddabout JD? Does she like it? Well, she ate about 3 big slices of the cake before I stopped her. She coughed quite a bit that night.
Lesson: just because the cake has carrots in it, doesn't make it healthier. Especially to a cough prone kid.
Lesson learned! :))

Kai's bday celebration 1

Can't believe that my baby's turned 1. Too bad we all came down with a cold, so only mini celebration for her on the day. I made red eggs and noodles for breakfast.

The red eggs. For Chinese, they symbolise good luck, roundness (as in complete happiness) and a sign of fertility/prosperity. Please ignore the botchiness of my eggs. I should have searched online beforehand on how to make smooth (boil the eggs with vinegar and salt).

Kai: Wow, what's this? Everybody is eating it spoon, I should try too.

Kai: Nah, it's easier by hand.

She ate about half of it before she starts throwing it to the floor.

Hello

Hi! We got back from the vacation about a week ago. But then all of us girls got hit by endless coughing and snotty nose :(
Kai turned 1 on Monday. We had to postpone the celebration because of the sickness. Hopefully everybody up and running this weekend, and we can celebrate it.
I'm still confused what birthday cake to bake and decorate. She doesn't have a favorite thing. Well, she loves to nurse, but I think boobie cake is not appropriate for 1 yo, don't u think? :)

Death by coffee

I've been following Ree from the Pioneer Woman for about more than a year now. She and Deb definitely contributes to my pouchiness and round buttom :)
When Ree posted this recipe awhile back, I really wanted to try it but never had the time to bake it. Until now.



Recipe: Coffee cake

Frosting recipe: Best creamy frosting

Verdict: I didn't use the frosting recipe from cake recipe, because I'm bored of regular o buttercream frosting. I found the frosting recipe from Tasty Kitchen, and it is sooo gooodd! I'll never go back to the buttercream frosting again (unless I have to). I added 1 Tablespoon of instant coffee to the frosting to make it coffee flavored. The cake is a bit dense. But flavorwise, if you love coffee, this is the cake for you. It's best enjoyed with a cup of coffee. Told you it's death by coffee :))

Cooking stuff

When it was mushroom season, the monkey king brought home a box of Cantarella mushroom. Never cook with them before, so after intense browsing, I decided to make mushroom stew, except that I don't really have the ingredients.


Recipe: none. I fused several mushroom stew that I found online to adjust for my lack of ingredients.
Verdict: mm...too mushroomy? :)

Curry Kyllingboller (Curry chicken meatballs)

Recipe: from Rema 2000 (grocery store) pamphlet. They are advocating dinner for 4 in less that U$20.
Verdict: definitely not enough flavor us. The idea of using chicken meatball than real meat for curry is refreshing, but not using coconut milk for the curry sauce? That's baffling for me.

Farikal (lamb in cabbage)

I couldn't believe that I've been living in Norway for 2 years. Time flies. And during those 2 years, I've never cooked farikal, despite the abundance of lamb during October.
This is about to change...


Recipe: Farikal
Modification: nothing, I think.
Verdict: Really easy recipe. Just just assembled the meat and cabbage in a pot, and leave it for 1.5 hours on low heat. And it came out really good. The meat is soft, tender, and flavorful.

Cabled Beret

Finally, another knitting FO just in time for the cold season.


Pattern: Cabled beret (Ravelry download)
Yarn: Brownsheep lamb's pride worsted frogged from Bzz hat
Needles: US 6 and 8
Modifications: don't have enough yarn, so shortened the cable section (more on rav), and added pompom on top
Verdict: Love it. It's slouchy but not too slouchy, warm, and can you believe that this is my first beret? I've been missing on the whole slouchy beret thing. Definitely need to make more of this.
Ravelled here

Furikake

I love love love furikake. They are really yummy eaten with warm rice. But sadly, there is no furikake in Bergen. So, after reading Just Bento's furikake, I decided to make homemade furikake



Recipe:

• 1 piece of fish (I use cod marinated in pepper and lemon)
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
• 2 teaspoon of soy sauce
• 1 sheet of nori (cut up in small pieces)
  
• 1-2 teaspoon of sesame seeds
  

Heat up a dry non-stick frying pan. Dump in the fish, and break them up with a spatula. As they cook and dry out, keep breaking them up until they form fine flakes. Add the sesame oil, and soy sauce halfway through and keep stirring. Your objective is to dry out and crisp up the fish without burning it.

When the fish is fairly dry and fine, add the nori and sesame seeds. Stir this only takes about 10-20 seconds.

Remove from the frying pan into a bowl. Let cool completely before storing in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will keep for up to a week. But in our case, we finished it right away.

Aviatrix baby hat

Pattern: Aviatrix baby hat (Ravelry download)
Yarn: various wool scraps
Needles: US 4 and 7
Verdict: It's really cute and fast project. I think it took me about 3 hours. I really love the colors, shape, everything. But what about the intended recipient? Does she likes it?

What...you don't like the hat baby?

I guess not...

A second later....

Hmmm....I guess doesn't help it stays on...oh well.

Ravelled here

Halloween Food

I saw hot dog impaled with spaghetti on some blog long time ago. And decided that this would be fun for Halloween. So, for Halloween dinner, I made...



It's impaled hot dog with spaghetti, burned octopus hot dog, and steamed broccoli on regular pasta sauce. It's a hit with JD coz she loves finger food.

I also made cupcakes for dessert


Recipe: Peanut Butter cupcake
Modifications: I use mini cupcake pan, crunchy peanut butter coz I'm out of the smooth one, and reduce the sugar to 1 cup. For the frosting, I just put 1 stick of butter to mixer, cream it and add sugar and powdered sugar until desired consistency.
I tried to color it to orange, but it ended up lilac color...weird

After adding some buttercream frosting and licorice for the legs and eyes

5 hours baby sweater II

5 hours baby sweater II, originally uploaded by Anak babi ilang.

Pattern: 5 hours baby sweater
Yarn: Caron simply soft and some white acrylic
Needles: US10
Verdict: very fast project with adorable result
Recipient: JD's kindergarten teacher

Ravelled here

Hi

Sorry for the long hiatus. My computer monitor broke down last week, and just got it back yesterday.

We are going back home to Indonesia this Saturday (YAY!). So, I probably won't be posting from there. But I'll prepare some posts about some FOs and baking/cooking stuff.

Ha det!
(bye in norwegian)

What's goin on in the baking world?

Here's some of the stuff that I baked this week:


Recipe: Old Fashioned Ginger Snap
Modi: Didn't have molasses, so used dark syrup instead. I also reduced the sugar to 1.5 cups.
Verdict: Quite good when fresh. However, after a few hours, it loses it's crunchiness. Is this common? This is my first time baking ginger snap.


Recipe: Apple cake
Modi: As usual, i reduced the sugar to 1 3/4 cup. Next time will reduce more to 1.5 or 1 1/4 cups.
Verdict: OMG! This is one of the best cake that I've baked. It is REALLY REALLY GOOD!


Recipe: Banana cookies
Modi: none
Verdict: Don't let the name deter you off. This is more like a banana bread in cookie shape or banana muffin top. It's pretty good, and a nice break from the regular banana bread.

That's all for now folks!

JD's new toy

Starting last winter, whenever JD eats a little junk food (candy, burger, fries, etc.) she coughed. She coughed when she's laying down, and this cough can lasts for months. Finally, her doctor recommended us to see an asthma specialist. After waiting for a long time, finally we got an appointment time. And 2 weeks ago, we went to there. JD was diagnosed with a mild asthma. The doctor puts her on inhaler twice a day for prevention, because winter in Bergen is terrible for asthma.
At first, JD was afraid of it. But now, she loves her inhaler. She even wants to do it herself, and takes it wherever she goes.

It's a bit sad that she has to undergo this. But after a few days of using it, her cough's gone. She's been coughing for 2 months, and we've tried everything! Well, I guess we can wean her off it later in spring. But for now, HIP HIP HURRA for no coughing :))

Trellis

So, I knitted Trellis cardigan for JD when she's 1.5 yo. I made larger size using larger needle, and heavier yarn hoping that it'll fit her until she's 2 yo.
Apparently, I made it so big, that it fits her just right right now. At the age of 3.5, and right when it starts to cool down too :))



Ravelled here

Do they look the same?

My friends thinks I cloned my girls :)
I managed to snap a few pics of Kai posing almost the same way like JD did when she's small. In the pic, JD was a few weeks older, and look they even wear the same shirt!
What do you think?

Kids stuff

Some pictures of da kidz.

JD and Kai sitting on the windowsill.
I think JD carries her sister to sit up there.


We all sleeps together in one room. Not because da kidz don't have their room and beds, but because they don't wanna sleep in their own room and beds. So, Kai sleeps on my bed, and we brought out a spare bed for JD. This is actually quite cozy and works better than all 4 of us sleeping in 1 bed like our previous arrangement. And since it started to get cold here, our room become quite warm and packed.
One night, I heard Kai fussing a bit, and went over to check on her. JT found them like this. Apparently, Kai moved around and fell into JD's bed (good thing it wasn't the floor).


JD helping me rolling the pie crust for pear tart

Food recap

Things that I've been baking/cooking in the past week.


Recipe: Deep, dark rich brownies
Vote: Really good. JT even loves it. It's rich, and very satisfying.


Recipe: Herbes de Provence bread
Vote: Taste-wise, it's good. However, the dough was really sticky, and not rising well (on the first rise). And on the second rise, it's more like rising to the sides, and up. Resulting in a bread that's more like a fluffy pancake, as JD (my oldest) said.

Lamb Curry with white and red rice

Recipe: my own


Recipe: Oatmeal cakes
Vote: Pretty good. JD loves it. And it's healthy too. So yay!

Baby gifts

JT (dh)'s colleague is expecting a baby this November. This is a perfect opportunity for scrap busting projects.

Project no. 1:


Pattern: Pixie hat
Yarn: about .3 ball of Schachenmayr nomotta Punto in blue
Needle: US7
Ravelled here



Pattern: BSJ baby booties (rav download)
Yarn: about .3 ball of Schachenmayr nomotta Punto in blue and light blue
Needle: US6
Ravelled here

This time I tried to make it professional looking by adding gift tag, and kinda arrange it in a bag.

Whaddaya think?

Yipiii...

Kai's playing with a bag of cheerios

Pear pie

I bought a bag of pear for really cheap a few days ago. The pears were really ripe and need to be used right away. So, I used some of the pears for pear pie.



Pear Tart
Preparation time: 20-25 minutes
Total time: 50 minutes
Serves 4

Pastry:
200g of plain flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
140g of chilled butter, cut into pieces
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon milk

Filling:
2-3 ripe pears pealed, cored and sliced thinly
1 apple, pealed, cored, and sliced thinly
1/2 cup of blueberries (it adds tartness to the pie, but you can omit it if you want)
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of plain flour
Cool whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and a little powdered sugar to serve

Add the flour, sugar, salt and butter to a bowl.
Using your fingertips, combine the dry ingredients with the butter, until it resembles coarse bread crumbs. This can be a little worrying, but don't worry the mixture will come together.
Add the egg yolk and milk to the mix and form the dough using your hands.
Cover the dough in clingflim and place in the fridge to chill for at least 30-40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 190C.
Place the fruits in a bowl and toss with the sugar and flour.

Remove the clingfilm and place the dough in between two sheets of parchment paper.
Roll out the pastry until you have a large disc (about 30cm in diameter).
Transfer the pastry disc to a baking tray and remove the top sheet of parchment paper.
Add the filling to the center of the pastry and using the sides of the greaseproof paper fold the sides up and over the filling.
Place on a baking tray and bake for 20-30 minutes.
Serve with a dollop of thick, cool whipped cream and dust with a little powdered sugar.

Recipe adapted from Donal Skehan's rustic pear pie.


The pie in the oven. Please pardon my dirty oven window.

This is my first time making tart. And the result is really really delicious. I think the recipe is very easy and forgiving.
So...what are you waiting for? Make this pie NOW!!
:))